TravelStream™ news feed for member bppiepkorn on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bppiepkorn en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:18:29 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1225659840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1225659840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1225659840/tpod.html Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:18:29 -0500 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

  Hola amigos y familia, So, I thought I'd update on the grand events of my life before I lose the details. First things first:  Halloween.  After being relieved of my cash and all access to it on the Subte (and then finding out that my backup ATM card didn't work), I was left with pretty dire options for my Aladdin costume.  I ended up destroying a button-down to create my Aladdin vest, and let me tell you, it really looked like a destroyed button-down, haha.   Anyway, it was a fun time.  We went to a friend of a friend's house to get ready for the club.  I brought my camera, but forgot to put in batteries so I had to steal pictures from friends to show you all.  It was a pretty fun time.  We were definitely a spectacle walking to the club in costumes in a city that doesn't really celebrate Halloween.  The most common reaction we got (other than fearfully walking on the other side of the street) was people trying to scare us.  I dig that, it's fairly halloweenish in my opinion. The club itself was a little weak.  They made some terrible DJ choices at first (picture what aliens would be jamming to on their way to Neptune...) but it eventually improved.  I left fairly early though because the whole no money thing kind of brought the mood down a bit. Saturday, John wired me some money.  After getting to the western union 7 minutes before close, the lady apologized and informed me that I couldn't claim my money because the name on my passport is contained my middle name, while the name on the wire transfer was does not.  In broken Spanish, I explained to her that we don't really use our middle name like they do here in Argentina, and exaggerated a bit to get my point across, saying I had no money, food, or a place to sleep so I really needed it.  All I got was 'tough break', saying that in Argentina, she can have 3 kids named Maria but it's the middle name that differentiates them, so she legally couldn't give me the money. Seeing that I was on the verge of spontaneous combustion, she gave me the location of another western union agent who wasn't "as strict with the rules".  Who knew there were crooked Western Union agents?  Anyway, I found him, and he gave me my money.  Later on Saturday was the personal music festival.  After tragically losing my wallet on Thursday, you can imagine how careful I was with my wallet, making sure that I had it securely buttoned (per Grandma Bunny's suggestion) in my pants pocket during the concerts.  So imagine my surprise when I realized that the button had been cut off and I had been had for the 2nd time in 3 days. It happened during Bloc Party's concert (maybe my favorite band).  I knew it was a little dangerous for my belongings because there was a bit of mosh-pit action going on.  (For all you old people, it's just a bunch of people jumping and dancing and sweating on each other, it's seriously kind of dangerous).  Anyway, it happened sometime during that.  And for the record, I was not drinking!  Not by choice, the venue was dry. I almost fainted in anger, which is probably not normal, but I couldn't believe it.  I almost had a little breakdown.  It just feels really unfair because I worked really hard to get here, I don't steal from anybody, and I'm pretty alert and responsible most of the time.  It's hard when you feel like you're being preyed on; it's not a feeling I'm used to having.   Anyway, Bloc Party was good, and the REM concert was pretty good too.  I was definitely in a terrible mood after the whole incident, but they put on a good show considering the band members are in their 80's.  One complaint I have though, is about the little speech that the lead singer, Michael Stipe, gave in the middle of the concert.  It went a little something like this: "It's no secret that we're from the United States.  It's no secret that a lot depends on this upcoming election and that a lot can be changed.  And it's no secret that everybody on this stage hates our government." This of course garnered huge applause from the crowd. For some reason, this made me really mad.  Maybe it was just my state of mind (angry/bitter), but I wanted to jump up on stage and tell Michael Stipe to shove it.  I'm as anti-Bush as anybody, but I thought it was really wrong of him to say that to the crowd.  Call me ethnocentric, but I don't think Argentines have a lot of room to talk in terms of government.  My host mom is taking her money out of the bank this week because an advisor told her the government may seize it.  I'm sure he was just trying to throw out some populist statements and rile up the crowd, but I thought it was irresponsible of him.  He is more than old enough to know better.  I was going to go to a futbol (soccer) game today, but I decided that I can't afford to leave my apartment after an expensive weekend of being stolen from, haha. I don't mean to paint Argentina in a bad light, it is what it is and I wasn't in the safest areas at all times.  A tourist most likely wouldn't deal with the subte system or a music festival.  But as a person living here, it's frustrating to have to worry about this stuff wherever you go.  It's just as bad for Argentines.   Anyway, I'll be investing in an under-the-clothing type pouch this week. Nothing exciting planned for this week, just class, buying my tickets for Chile, but I'm sure something interesting will reveal itself along the way. :-P Attached are just a few pics of Halloween and the Personal music festival.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1228166820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1228166820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1228166820/tpod.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:31:35 -0500 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Lima, Peru

Hi guys.  No time to say much right now but here are the essentials:Viviane arrived on time to Buenos Aires.  Unfortunately her luggage did not.  So, she's in the clothes that she came in.. from Switzerland.. which is cold.  There were some other disasters that I'll explain later (obviously), but we're here in Lima and we just had our first great meal with my amazing former Spanish prof Maria, and now we're trying to track down Viviane's baggage to no avail because the phone number provided was wrong.  We're working on it.Updates to come soon.. this will be a good trip in the end.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1227661380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1227661380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1227661380/tpod.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:09:26 -0500 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hey Peeps, Time for the weekly edition of "Brad Gets Robbed"! Actually, I thwarted this attempt.  Here's the story: A field trip for my class called "Cultural Icons" required us to go to the neighborhood of La Boca.  Why they didn't arrange transportation for us is beyond me, as they made sure we understood after our city tour that we should not go to this area.   So, having severe problems accessing my money (looong story, all the result of my first robbing and subsequent credit card company errors) I decided to take a city bus with some friends, totally legit.   After about a 40 minute bus ride, we got to our stop in La Boca and got off.  It was about 4 blocks in between the bus stop and the museum/thing that we had to go to.  And it was 2:00 in the afternoon.   La Boca is poor, but bustling.  Old women walking around everywhere and stray dogs and kids and everything.  Actually, it's kind of a fun atmosphere.  But then, enter the 3 blonde American students.  There was a guy, about my age, well dressed and relatively harmless looking, sitting on a box about a block ahead and across the street.  As soon as he stood up, I knew I was screwed.  When we got within about 1/3 of a block, he just started sprinting at us.  He just cornered me and let the girls go (chivalrous!)  and said, in very good English might I add, "Give me the money, give me the money, give me the money".   I looked around and of course there was nobody on the street because I'm Brad and that's my luck.  So, he yells at me some more, I snap out of it... and realizing that my life is ridiculous, I just said, "UGHHHHH NOOOOOO!" pretty loud.  He was surprised.  Then he repeated his wishes, and I responded by just saying "No. No. No." every time.  He probably thought I was nuts because he was a lot bigger than me.  Anyway, my no's must have been pretty loud because after about 10 seconds of demanding my money and fishing in my pockets (YEAH SECURITY WALLET!!) he pushed me and said, "Just go!" and ran away.* Then, I chased him down, and beat him up and said, "Now you tell all of your friends in this country to STOP ROBBING ME" and he begged for forgiveness.  (Please note, * denotes the beginning of embellishment) It was funny because I wasn't saying "no" to trying and alert anybody (which would've been smart), I was just seriously being like, "noooo way this is happening!" I just had to laugh my ass of afterwards.  What are the chances?  The girls were a little bit more shaken up.. you know, cuz it's scary walking away from somebody getting robbed! Other than that, life has been pretty good guys.  I had 2 finals today, which I'm sad to say I bombed.  I think the fact that I devoted exponentially more time to traveling and having fun than I did to class may have had something to do with it.  Only young once right?  I always have my trust fund to live off of.. oh wait.. It has been hot as.. really hot here.  It was 83 degrees when I woke up at 8:30 this morning.  It got hotter.  Haha, it totally sucks the energy out of you, and makes me sweaty and gross, but I'd still take it over the frigid temperatures of Minnesota's winter any day.  It's going to be tough to go back to. Nothing else interesting really happened in the last week... hmm..-I got another tattoo... this one says "Buena Onda", which is a very popular phrase that pretty much means "good vibes".  I like it.  -I went to an amazing boliche (club) over the weekend and made it until sunrise yet again.-Despite the weather, I'm really excited to come home... but I'll miss this city, even if it's full of people that really want my money.-My last final is tomorrow, in Spanish, which will be fine.  I won't have class for over 2 months after! I leave for Peru on Sunday night at midnight.  The chance of getting robbed is twice as likely there, so just imagine how I'll do!  I'm extremely excited though. Wish me luck kids, hope all is well.HAPPY DIA DE PAVOOO
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1227057480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1227057480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1227057480/tpod.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:32:07 -0500 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Valparaiso, Chile

Como estan amigos? I'll start with my typical disclaimer-this entry is going to be rushed and mediocre as its 10:30pm and I still have a 6 page paper to write. (at least it's in English)  I'll also start with something else that's become pretty typical on my trip.  I have been relieved of yet another belonging, this time being my beautiful, precious camera.  I don't want to talk about it.  Let's just say that this time, I will admit to being partially at fault.  So, needless to say, no pictures.  I can't afford to replace my camera but I do hope to steal pictures from friends so that I have some way of documenting the last month of my time here... (And the most exciting month.. bleh) Okay, so... my trip to Chile was a fantastic time.  We left at 6:00pm on Wednesday, which also happened to be the exact time of St. Thomas class registration, so big shout out to my friend Liz for registering for me and not messing up.  The bus food was terrible.  I had to sit alone on the top level because I booked way later than my friends who got the 1st class seats.  We got to play bingo, which was fun... but there's really no way to make this trip fun.  Crossing the border to Chile was super slow (more about that later) and we just sat there for something like 2 hours before being allowed to cross.  We had planned to arrive in Santiago in the early afternoon to allow some sight-seeing, but seeing as how our 20 trip ended up being more like 24, it cut into our time.  We basically just ate in Santiago, obtained currency (and let me say, it is fun to get a stack of 10,000 peso bills) and got tickets to Valparaiso.  From the little bit I saw of Santiago, it looked like a beautiful city.  I can say that the subway system is a lot cleaner, faster, and overall more efficient than that of Buenos Aires. After about a two-hour trip from Santiago by coach bus, we arrived in Valparaiso.  It was dark so we couldn't see much.  We had all gotten plenty of rest on the bus ride so we decided to drop our stuff off at the hostel, take quick showers, and then meet up with a friend of a friend's boyfriend named Felipe, a native of Valparaiso.  He ended up making our trip.  He took us to possibly the biggest club I've ever been in, with 5 floors all blasting different types of music.  We ended up on the roof for most of the time, which was amazing.  To one side was the ocean, to the other was the rolling hills that lead to the Andes.  We walked home to the sun rising, which is a good way to do things (and which I've gotten much better at during my time here). Friday morning we got up early (all things considered) and went sightseeing.  The first stop was the former house of Pablo Neruda, who's considered one of the most important poets of the 20th century.  He wrote the "Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair", if that helps.  It's the only thing I had heard of.  Anyway, his house was beautiful.  I promise to steal pictures of it sometime. After old Pablo's house, we decided to visit the "ex-carcel", which is the ex prison that has now been turned into an art space.  It was quite difficult to find, due to different directions from every person we asked (it might be some sick little came that the Valparaisans play with tourists..) but eventually we made it.  I really loved this place.  It was very desolate, but there was some great art in it.  I can't really explain this, so again, wait for the pictures but do take a look.  After a long day of seeing two whole tourist attractions, we decided to make supper to save some money (scrambled eggs and French toast... sofisticado) and then utilize our friend Felipe again for nighttime entertainment, which he provided excellently.  This time we climbed up way too many stairs of "las ruinas" in English "the ruins".  I'm not sure what they were the ruins of, I should've asked, but anyway it was really high and had a great view of the ocean and the city lights.  So we just hung out with a bunch of Chileans, some Canadians, had some drinks, it was a great time.  We were there until about 4:00 am, when the group decided to go to a club, but I was still tired from the night before, so I called it an early night. Saturday we got up at a respectable hour to head to the beach which is actually in the city called viña del mar, but it doesn't really seem like a separate city.  They're right next to each other.  I don't know what goes through my head every time I'm outside and think it's a good idea to forego sun block.  Anyway, this was the case.  The beach was beautiful, and the people were in general much less attractive and much more conservatively dressed than in Buenos Aires, so we had no issues stripping down.  The water was FREEZING because it allegedly comes from the arctic or something.  All I know is it was cold.  But the weather was perfect. Saturday night, Felipe advised us not to go out because it's a bit dangerous.  Thursdays and Fridays are more university students who are more harmless, but Saturdays are when all the people come out from their hiding places and cause problems.  So we decided to partake in some innocent entertainment and took this box-car thing on a cable (sorry these descriptions are weak) up to the top of a hill to get a view of the city and the ocean once again.  It was gorgeous to see everything lit up, and the lights and music from the simultaneous parties going on across the city.   Then we had seafood and went to bed.   A lot of the group left Sunday morning, but a few of us stayed (class?  What class?!).  We decided to split up for the day, so I made my friend Caitlin come with me to the mall so I could go 'gift shopping' and whatnot.  I got a Subway sandwich, which was amazing, but no gifts, sorry kids.   That was basically it.  The trip home was a little shorter, but not without its share of drama.  When we left Santiago, the drivers said that we may have to turn around at the border because the border workers were going on strike and may not let us through.  It turns out that we were allowed to go through (after our driver passed around a cup saying, "Please give a tip to the border workers, they're working very hard, we'll get through faster) and without much delay.  It also turns out that we were the last bus allowed through before they shut the border down.  I don't know if it's shut down for hours or days or weeks but I just know I was glad we made it through because I'm getting up there in absences from class and I forgot to tell my program that I was leaving the city... or country. I got back at 8:30am this morning to face my rough "10 hours of class Tuesday".  I'd be lying if I said I made it to all 10 hours.  I just have this week and next week and I am DONE with classes, I am pumped.  I bought my tickets to Peru, so there's no stopping me now.  I just need to buy my tickets within Peru.. and my cards still haven't come so that's posing a bit of a problem.  Hopefully the USPS pulls through by tomorrow, because I officially have the equivalent of $9 which will get me lunch through Thursday.  If that doesn't work, it's back to the crooked Western Union agent. Alright well I'm out folks, I hope everything's good.  I'll put up a few random pictures I can find posted on facebook from our trip. 1 month until my return!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1226181900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1226181900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1226181900/tpod.html Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:36:44 -0500 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Tigre, Central Argentina, Argentina

Congratulations everybody!  (On the election of Barack Obama, of course) I wasn't in the states, so I don't know for sure, but I think the election may have been almost as big of a deal here as it was in the states.  Everybody was talking about it and it was in every newspaper. Most Argentines that I'd been speaking to couldn't even really name who Barack Obama was running against (not a bad thing :-P), so that gives you an idea of how close they didn't think the race was.  I'd get questions about it every day, from cab drivers, "Obama will win, right?" to people on the street... Questions from almost anybody who could tell that I'm an American, which doesn't take long once I open my mouth.  (Sidenote:  I know that the term "American" should apply to people of South and Central America too, but... I just don't go around calling myself a United Statesean.) We decided to watch the election at the location designated by the Buenos Aires chapter of Democrats Abroad, which was a place called "Sacramento Bar" in Palermo.  The energy was great.  It was PACKED with Americans of all ages, and we couldn't even find a place to sit when we got there at 9:00 pm.  Since we couldn't find a place to sit, we decided to camp out right in front of the projector where they were broadcasting the CNN results all night.  This was kind of uncomfortable for our necks, looking straight up, but it also put is in a great position to be photographed by press here.  It also didn't hurt that my friend group on Tuesday ended up looking like a diversity-acceptance poster, with a blonde whitey (guess who that is), an African American, an Asian, an Indian, and a Jew.  Not bad eh? Anyway, the election itself was pretty intense.  There were enormous cheers every time CNN announced Barack had won a state.  I'd say a significant percentage of the people in the bar cried during the projection that he'd won or during his acceptance speech.  I almost got a little misty-eyed myself, of happiness, watching Sarah Palin's crocodile tears during McCain's concession speech.  Thank goodness she's out of reach of the white-house.  (Sorry, I don't mean to offend anybody... other than strong Palin supporters) On Wednesday, after the election, I had a bunch of texts and missed calls on my phone saying that we were in some of the newspapers, so I promptly went out to buy them.  I've attached a picture of us in the most popular paper, the Clarín.  There were dozens of pictures being taken of us throughout the night, and I tried my hardest to look jubilant and inspired in every one, but they ended up using the one picture during which I was taking a swig of Quilmes.  My teachers at IES joked with me about it a bit, and now every time my door man sees me he says, "OBAMA!!!" and then cracks open an imaginary beer.  All in good fun, I guess! Didn't do much else during the week until Friday, when I decided to go along with some girls to El Tigre, which is a city about an hour away by train.  The train costs about 2 pesos, or 70 cents, round trip.  The city itself isn't the main attraction though.  Tigre is popular for it's series of islands in the river, many of which are home to private spas and resorts.  We decided to get the cheapest boat (about $5) to an island 30 minutes away called "Tres Bocas", which is "Three Mouths" in English.  It was just fun to ride around in the boats, see all the islands, walk around a bit, have a nice lazy lunch, etc.  There wasn't actually much to do, but it was a fun and pretty inexpensive day trip. So far, my extremely fashionable security wallet (pictured) with rope/string attachment is working out great.  I haven't been pick-pocketed once!  It's already falling apart though, which kinda sucks, but I'm thinking I can make it last as I'm only here for about 5 more weeks.    I don't really have much for plans this weekend, other than translating "Baby Got Back" into Spanish for my workshop.  Hope you guys are all doing well, I probably won't update again until I get back from Chile.  I leave Wednesday!  Wish me luck. -Brad
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1225422840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1225422840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1225422840/tpod.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:38:51 -0400 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

Story time.    I never thought it would happen to me.  "I'm careful", I always told myself.  But I was naive.     So I'm on my way to buy my bus ticket for my trip to Chile in a couple of weeks, with a pocket full of cash, waiting to hop on the subway.  As the subway pulls up, a group of 4 guys and one woman crowd around me, bumping and patting me making it look as though they're just rudely budging in front of me (which is really common).  I look down and see the woman's hand in my front left pocket, where my iPod and cell-phone are located.      I instinctively grab her arm, (embarrassingly hard) and then she starts shouting at me, "What are you doing?  Are you robbing me?"  Confused by what the hell she is talking about, I make sure she stays put while I check this pocket to make sure my things are still there.  They are.  Then I turn to my right, and see the four guys exiting the subway station.  I pat my right pocket.  Wallet--gone.      Those bastards are professional!  In my defense, there was really nothing I could have done.  I had all of my things in my front pockets, which is supposed to help prevent stuff like this, but alas.  There were no cops in sight, and there were 5 of them.  I wish I would have squeezed her arm even harder though!     Whatever though, at least my beautiful face wasn't damaged or anything.  It was just a lot of cash, and my check card, and my credit card, and my driver's license, and my insurance card, and my discount card from the Buckle!  (Why I didn't take that out of my wallet my whole time here is beyond me)     I cancelled everything immediately, so no worries there, but it's just a hassle and a shame.  I was prepared for such an atrocity and have a spare ATM card that I can use to draw cash, so I'm not stranded or anything, but it's inconvenient because I was going to buy my tickets to Peru this week.  Oh wells.     In other happy news, I decided to take the morning off from class and go back to the Hospital Aleman since I'm going on 3 straight months of sickness.  They laughed, said sorry, and wrote me a prescription for stronger antibiotics for a sinus infection.  I'm not going to start taking them until after this weekend, however, because it's Halloween Friday, the Personal Music Festival on Saturday, and the Racing Futbol game on Sunday.  Responsible adult decision, right?       I'm being Aladdin for Halloween, but more abstract Aladdin than the Disney version.  I'll take some pictures.  I will look nothing like him, but my hat is GREAT.  Get excited.     My host mom likes me this week.       That's all for now!  Make good choices this weekend kids!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1224945480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1224945480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1224945480/tpod.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:43:49 -0400 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Hello compadres-     I added pictures to my previous couple of posts because my computer is back in action!    I'm in my bedroom with the door shut right now because my host mom is pissed at me!  I lost my house keys during my day-trip to Uruguay, and she's not having it.  Haha, I think she's a little bit over having an exchange student in her perfect house.  She's also started doing some funny things.  For example, she must have found some water on the floor somewhere or something, because every time I fill up a glass of water in front of her she goes, "Don't spill it."  Also, every time I walk into the bathroom, she goes in after me and wipes up the floor, as though I spilled something.  Maybe she's got a screw loose?  Oh well.  She's still a good cook, and that's all I really care about :-P.   In other news, while my host mom was gone in Chile, I had a great time!  I had people over to watch tv a couple times, nothing disrespectful, and I definitely miss my short-lived life as a Recoleta bachelor.  I could cook what I wanted, do the dishes when I wanted, and listen to MTV as loud as I wanted.  Fantastic.  I'm realizing it's hard to be living with a 'parent' when you're 20.  My host-aunt (and the mother of my friend/host cousin Ailin) came over a few times to make sure I ate (as my host mom thinks I'm anorexic), and she's really cool, total riot.  So she provided me with food and shelter when I got back from Uruguay without my keys.      About the anorexic thing, it's part hilarious, part frustrating.  My host brother will come over for dinner, and she'll tell him, "He's so little, he doesn't eat anything, it's why he's always sick."  I eat everything she makes me, always, and a lot more when I go out to eat with friends.  I'm pretty sure my daily caloric intake is double hers.  I also caught her telling somebody on the phone that I drink a ton of water to stave off hunger.  My host-aunt told me to ignore it, haha.    Okay enough host-parent venting.  Few discoveries.  When I'm feeling over Argentina, my new haven is the Hard Rock cafe.  First, amazing greasy food including hot-wings and potato skins.  Terribly uncultured of me to say, but the "Jumbo Combo' appetizer platter is better than any other meal I've enjoyed in all of Argentina.  Plus, the Hard Rock hosts a concert-ticket buying office, which is where I found out about the Personal Music festival happening next weekend, which I'm going to.  The day for which I have  tickets include REM, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, and Mars Volta.  For most of my family, who almost surely knows none of these, trust me--that's a GREAT lineup.     Yesterday I wen to Colonia, Uruguay for the day.  It was great.  It was basically all of the IES kids, and we got there a couple hours before any other tourists, which I was a tad bitter about because I had to get up at 6:30.  The weather was extremely warm and sunny (I've got the sunburn to prove it), and the town is beautiful (pictures attached).  Additionally, I have to say that the people in Colonia were all around amazing.  It was like Minnesota nice.  We had to stop people and ask them questions for our respective Spanish classes, and everybody was just so nice and so willing to talk to us, and also curious about how our time here was going.  In short, I want to move to Colonia!        We were pretty lame tourists, actually.  I didn't make it into one museum.  We just relaxed all day, sat on the rocks on the shore of the river (which is the widest in the world, I found out), sat at an outdoor cafe and enjoyed some beer, etc.  It was a really good, relaxing day.  I'd like to go back because they have go-carts, golf-carts, and mopeds for hire, but the roundtrip ferry ticket to Colonia is 100 pesos ($30).  Maybe toward the end of my trip.      Now I'm going to go shopping for a halloween costume!  Some kids from my program arranged for a club to hold a halloween party for us, so it should be fun.  And the day after halloween is the Personal Music Festival, so I'll be 'tuckered out' after next weekend, I'm sure.      Oh, one last thing, I decided to go along on a trip to Santiago and Valpraiso, Chile the weekend of November 15th.  I'm kind of running out of money, but I just figure I want to see the most that I can because it will be quite some time before I can get back down here.  Plus, the people I'm going with are great, so it should be a really good time.  Wish me luck!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1224177660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1224177660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1224177660/tpod.html Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:27:38 -0400 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

Hello peeps,Okay, I thought I´d update again even though I don´t have the ability to post photos.&nbsp; Just let the anticipation build.Going out of order, did you guys watch the debate last night?&nbsp; Intense!&nbsp; If I were in the states, I´d definitely have some ¨Joe the Plumber¨ t-shirts made, stat.&nbsp; I am one of the few lucky IES students to have CNN in english at my home, so I typically watch the debates there, but I decided to go to a bar rented out by Democrats Abroad.&nbsp; I don´t even think they could tell that I´m actually a registered independent.So, from where I left off.&nbsp; After I got back from Cordoba, I hung out in my apartment for the day, repacked, bought a new phone, checked my email, and wrote an update.&nbsp; Somehow during that time on my host-mom´s computer, I managed to get a virus.&nbsp; I´ve never gotten a virus on one of my own computers, and she has 2 anti-spyware programs, so I think there´s some sort of supernatural bad luck going on.&nbsp; So I had to pay for some guy to fix it.&nbsp; He also took my laptop to look at it, but I haven´t heard anything from him.&nbsp;On Friday night, Marianela came to pick me up.&nbsp; I wasn´t really worried about it being awkward despite the whole 3 years of not seeing each other, and it was only weird for the first minute or two.&nbsp; I <i>thought that she was picking me and we were going to go to her city (La Plata, 40 minutes away) and go out, but it ended up being that we went directly to another apartment in Buenos Aires for her godfather´s birthday party.&nbsp; Basically nobody in Marianela´s family speaks english except for her, so it was kind of intense.&nbsp; I haven´t really been forced into a lot of situations like that yet, and it reminded me of how bad my Spanish really is.&nbsp; It´s one thing to be able to ask for stuff you need at the supermarket, or ask for directions, but it´s really humbling to attempt an in depth conversation.&nbsp; (I tried explaining the financial crisis in a nutshell; disasterous.)After the party, Marianela, her mom, her mom´s boyfriend, her aunt and I all packed into a car and went to La Plata.&nbsp; Maru has her own place, which is pretty rare for a 22 year old student, but she works at McDonalds to pay for it.&nbsp; (McDonalds are much classier here, by the way.&nbsp; And they have sweet McDonald´s jeans with M´s on the pockets.&nbsp; But they only pay $3 an hour.)&nbsp; She also has cats, which greatly affected my ability to breathe, but whatevs.Saturday morning we got up early (9:30 am) and got in the car with Maru´s little sister, Manuela, her aunt and her mom to go to the city of Salto, which is about two and a half hours northwest of Buenos Aires city, but still in the province of Buenos Aires.&nbsp; Salto is a smaller town of 30,000 also on a river, although I´m not sure which one.&nbsp; We stayed in the house of Maru´s aunt, and the house was beautiful.&nbsp; Very old and rustic, but huge rooms, 20 foot ceilings, etc.&nbsp; Unfortunately it´s going to be sold soon in accordance&nbsp;with divorce proceedings, so I´m glad I got to stay there before the sale took place!The weekend was pretty low key, just time with Marianela´s family, catching up with her, learning about Argentine politics and history, etc.&nbsp; Some highlights include:- Going to a play, basically called ¨Three Women in a Bathroom¨.&nbsp; You can imagine the premise.- Going to a pizza feast with the actresses, director, and 15 other argentines I didn´t know afterwards (one of the actresses is friends with Maru´s aunt)-&nbsp;Attempting to play movie charades with these people.&nbsp; This was extremely difficult because the movie titles aren´t the same.&nbsp; Not even translations, just completely different titles.&nbsp; I got one correct.&nbsp; I once had to act out a movie called ¨La aroma de la papaya verde¨, or ¨The Smell of the Green Papaya¨.&nbsp; Not easy.&nbsp; You try acting out a papaya.- A 60 year old obese woman&nbsp;got the card to&nbsp;act out the Kamasutra.&nbsp; Predictably, hilarity ensued.- Going to a ´Mother´s Day Dance´ which had nothing to do with mother´s day, and which was full of 15 year old girls that loved me.&nbsp; The girls in Salto really took notice of me, everywhere I spoke English.&nbsp; I wish I had the same appeal in Buenos Aires.In all, it was just really nice to catch up with Maru.&nbsp; She´s still as crazy as ever, and I hope to be able to get to see her again before my time here is done.&nbsp; When I came home, my host mom thought that I should really go to the doctor because I´ve been fairly sick for 2 months with this cold.&nbsp; I went to Hospital Alemania (German Hospital) which was quite nice.&nbsp; They did x-rays of my face, which I found strange but my host mom said it´s pretty common to look at sinuses.&nbsp; Anyway, after 3 hours at the hospital, 2 facial x-rays, a chest x-ray, and $100, it was determined that I have allergies.&nbsp; Surprise.My host mom left for Chile yesterday, so I have the apartment to myself for the weekend.&nbsp; Score!&nbsp; When she left, she told me to ´be responsible´, so we´ll see how that goes ;-).Hope you´re all doing well, write me!&nbsp; I´m sort of homesick.. well, just literally sick from buenos aires pollution.&nbsp; But, you get the point.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1223666700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1223666700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1223666700/tpod.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:09:37 -0400 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Cordoba, Central Argentina, Argentina

Hey everybody,I only have 20 minutes right now, so ill´just give a brief update of what I´ve been up to this week.&nbsp; I´ll start off by apologizing for the lack of effort put into this, but i´m on a foreign keyboard and kind of down on technology right now.&nbsp; And also, sorry for the lack of pictures, but my stupid computer broke so I´m on my host mom´s while she´s in Chile.&nbsp; After several extensive google searches, I was able to discover that my computer has some mystery windows vista bug.&nbsp; It just freezes about 30 seconds after I start it up.&nbsp; Can´t get much done in 30 seconds.&nbsp; Totally understandable, I mean the computer is 4 months old already.&nbsp; I know, I know.&nbsp; Should´ve gotten a mac.&nbsp; I don´t think I´ll get it fixed here, because it´ll be free when I get back to the states.&nbsp; I´m sure my vast viewership will take a hit with no pictures (or sufficient time to write entries), but I´ll just have to deal.&nbsp; Huge bummer though . (I realize technology isn´t a real problem, but it is frustrating to have no music and have basically all communication severed.. my phone is gone too.. continue reading)We left Saturday morning for Rosario, which is a beautiful city.&nbsp; It´s over a million people, and was big enough and entertaining enough for me despite several Argentines telling me that it was a waste of time to visit.&nbsp;Argentines&nbsp;seem to be really self conscious while talking tourist destinations with me, I think because they feel Americans have really high standards.&nbsp; But I really don´t!Rosario is on the Parana river only 4 hours from Buenos Aires, so we had some nice beach time and saw some restaurants on the waterfront.&nbsp; The hostel was great, the weather was great (low 80´s isn´t bad for beginning of spring, huh?), and my sunburn was great.&nbsp; We took a 2 hour tour of the city from the river, that was probably my favorite part of this stop.After a couple of days hanging out in Rosario, we went to Santa Fe.&nbsp; We had originally planned on 2 days in this city as well, but my hard-to-please trip mates didn´t think it warranted the time.&nbsp; I thought about just ditching them and sticking with my plan (it was my trip after all), but in the end I just gave up and decided to appease them.&nbsp; So we spent just Monday during the day in Santa Fe, looking at some colonial buildings, Jesuit churches, the waterfront, and eating at a seafood restaurant.&nbsp; Yes, I ate the fish. Monday night, we hopped on a bus to Cordoba.&nbsp; Tuesday morning, I hopped off the bus, without my phone, realized it, and then watched the bus drive down the road.&nbsp; Grr.&nbsp; So I had to buy a new phone.&nbsp; Cordoba is Argentina´s second largest city, and it is, for lack of a sophisticated adjective,&nbsp;really flippin sweet.&nbsp; It feels a lot different than Buenos Aires, I could even tell a difference in the Spanish, and that says something.&nbsp; We went on a day tour in a McDonalds city-tour bus where we sat on the 2nd story and had to duck branches.&nbsp; More churches, more Jesuits.&nbsp; Again, the trip mates were kinda hard to please, which means I´m going to put more thought into my company during travels from now on.&nbsp; It can really put a damper on things.&nbsp; Hmm, we also went to the city of Alta Gracia which is where Che Guevara grew up.&nbsp; Also a beautiful city, very small, but too many hostile stray dogs for my liking.&nbsp;Also the home of some really famous composer who´s name I can´t&nbsp;recall.&nbsp;Getting off the bus from Alta Gracia, the same thing happened with my camera as my phone, except this time I chased down the bus.&nbsp; I had to lay down on the sidewalk after recovering it.&nbsp; Camera, phone, and computer in one week would just be too much to bear.&nbsp; I don´t know why I´m such an idiot with those things.Okay we did more interesting stuff but I´m out of time.&nbsp; I´m back in Buenos Aires for the afternoon, reorganizing some stuff at my apartment before I take off again.&nbsp; On Tuesday, I got a call from my Argentine friend Marianela, who I was on exchange with in South Africa, and she invited me to hang out with her and her family from tonight (Friday) until Monday.&nbsp; I haven´t seen her in almost three years (ew, am I getting old?)&nbsp;so it will be interesting to meet up with her again tonight.Good luck to all you crazy kids in Wadena for the October Outing, I´m thinking of you all!&nbsp; See you in just over 2 months!&nbsp; I´ll write more this week, and from a better mood, I promise.&nbsp; Chau lambs.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1222914240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1222914240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bppiepkorn/1/1222914240/tpod.html Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:59:55 -0400 Brad does Argentina. And other stuff, too.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hey lambs, Sorry I've gotten lazy/busy/uninteresting so haven't had much to put up lately.&nbsp; Again, I've basically just been going to classes.&nbsp; When I have more time, I'll write some more interesting cultural differences I've stumbled upon throughout my oh so enlightening time here.&nbsp; But for right now, I'm studying for the 3 midterm exams I have tomorrow.I've gone out a couple of times to different places, pretty interesting.&nbsp; I have a soft spot for "Shoeless Joe's Alamo", which is a cheap bar for tourists, and they always play American sports.&nbsp; First time I went there, we befriended some very generous American Airlines pilots, (one of whom was hitting on a friend of mine, before realizing that she graduated with his son.&nbsp; Same school and all...) and the second time we befriended a man in his mid 60's from Baltimore who wasn't sure when he was returning home and was going through some 'life changes'.&nbsp; Good times.I am still doing the river thing for break, that is 3 cities along the Rio Parana (Parana River) which will most likely be Rosario, Santa Fe, and Corrientes.&nbsp; And don't worry Jessi and Gram, I believe I have company.&nbsp; I plan to leave Friday morning, which will be difficult because I don't have time to buy the tickets until Friday morning, but we'll see how it goes.&nbsp; I'm just going to kind of wing this trip, not sure of how the trip-mates feel about that but I guess that's what they get for entrusting me to plan it!&nbsp; It'll be my longest vacation yet, and will hopefully last until the following Saturday or Sunday.&nbsp; I'm looking forward to it.. it will just be a relaxing trip, no waterfalls, no mountains.&nbsp; Just river, people, museums, and architecture.&nbsp; I'm also trying to make plans for after my program.&nbsp; As (i think) I've mentioned before, I've got a 3 week surplus and I'm going to be traveling to Peru and somewhere else with my friend Viviane from exchange in South Africa.&nbsp; Since Viviane is from Switzerland and may not make it to South America for decades, she wants to get a lot out of the trip, so this is costing a lot.&nbsp; but it should be pretty legendary.&nbsp; What I have planned so far is:3 days in Lima, Peru staying at Maria's apartment&nbsp;(my amazing Spanish prof from St. Thomas)3 days in Puerto Maldonado, Peru (in the rainforest where Maria is making a dictionary of a dying indigenous language)2 days in Cuzco (Machu Picchu)After that, we still have about&nbsp; a week left.&nbsp; I think Viviane wants to go to Rio de Janiero, Brazil but that will be really expensive for me considering Americans have to pay $180 for a visa.&nbsp; (But they only make us pay it because we make them) We'll see.&nbsp; I'm eating corn-flakes til then!&nbsp; Alright, that's about all the update I have time for right now.&nbsp; It's 11:40pm, and I haven't even started studying for my Spanish midterm tomorrow.&nbsp; (Some things never change, haha)Hope you're all doing well.&nbsp; Special shout out to Grandma Bunny, Jess, and Oliver on their 82nd, 28th, and 3rd birthdays, respectively. (and anybody I missed!)&nbsp; Miss you all!
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